Georgia among most religious states

Published April 5, 2012

NASHVILLE, TN (BP) — Mississippi, Utah and Alabama joined Georgia among the most religious states and Vermont and New Hampshire the least religious, according to a Gallup survey that asked respondents about their religion and their church attendance.

The survey, released March 27, is based on interviews with 350,000 adults in 2011 as part of Gallup’s daily tracking poll. The poll asked respondents if religion is an important part of their daily life, and also asked them if they attend religious services every week or almost every week.

Southern states were the most religious, while the Northeast and Northwest states the least religious.

Mississippi led the way with 59 percent of its citizens being labeled very religious, followed by Utah (57 percent), Alabama (56), Louisiana (54), Arkansas (54), South Carolina (54), Tennessee (52), North Carolina (50), Georgia (48) and Oklahoma (48).

Vermont and New Hampshire each had only 23 percent of respondents labeled as very religious. That was followed by Maine (25 percent), Massachusetts (28), Alaska (28), Oregon (30), Nevada (30), Washington (30), Connecticut (31), District of Columbia (32), New York (32) and Rhode Island (32).

The pattern of religiosity, the survey said, has “remained stable in recent years.”